RESPECT - Model of Resillience

Building resilience is about learning to respect and take care of yourself. Find below a model of resilience building using the acronym ‘RESPECT’ (Dunkley, 2018):

Relaxation - Breathing exercises, mindfulness, meditation, grounding, prayer and good sleep hygiene. Create anchors - these are objects that make you feel relaxed, content or grounded when you look at them.

Education - Understand the psychology of stress, identify your own stress symptoms and early warning signs, learn what your triggers are. Educate yourself how to identify when you and others may be stressed and activate your coping strategies when needed.

Social - Identity your social networks, family members, friends, organisations, groups, pets, places you’d like to visit. Be aware of the type of music, social media or TV material you are exposed or drawn to - is it making you feel more stressed or does it have a calming or distracting effect?

Physical - Body movement is important when we feel stressed. Shaking it off, massage, dance, being in nature are all de-stress techniques. Tai Chi, Yoga and even kick-boxing can help with de-stressing. A routine and healthy diet also improves our stress levels. Monitor your intake of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine - these could increase your stress levels.

Exercise - Adrenaline, nor-adrenaline and cortisol build up in our system when we are stressed. Exercise releases feel good hormones such as serotonin and dopamine.

Creativity - Creative activities can be used as a distraction and also activates the part of our brain that can calm our system. Music, art, writing, sewing, baking and any other activity that helps activate our imagination is helpful.

Thinking - We become consumed with negative thoughts about ourselves when we are stressed. This is often activated by the emotional part of our brain, For example ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I am a bad person’, ‘I am to blame’ and ‘I am weak’. It is helpful to think that is how you feel, not who you are. This helps to bring online the rational part of the brain. Ask yourself what would you say to a friend if they were describing themselves in the same negative way. Start to be kinder towards yourself and offer yourself compassion when impacted by stress. Things are hard enough without us giving ourselves an even harder time.

RESPECT yourself